Momo is a princess trapped by her station in life. Destined to wither away behind the stone walls of the castle, Momo has accepted her fate when a dark intruder happens upon her in the dead of night. With an accidental friendship and maybe something...
It's useless to dream because nothing ever changes.
Yaoyorozu Momo has come to accept this. The fickleness of fate that young maidens whisper of in wistful voices does not reach her position. Since birth, her destiny, like so many princesses before her, has been inked on vellum contracts and in expensive lineage trees.
So perhaps it is because of this — or despite it — that on dark nights Momo finds herself sneaking out of her bedroom and heading back towards the one wing of the castle where she can pretend, if only for a few hours, that she is the master of her own fate.
Bare feet glide silently as owl wings across cold stone floors. The hallway is empty. There are no tapestries or rugs here, nothing that could mask the footsteps of intruders.
She clutches a golden lantern in her left hand, but it's unlit. Momo can't risk kindling the fire until she is tucked away in the safety of the library where the guards can't find her — where her cousin, the King, can't find her.
She knows she has to be careful. Her position is precarious.
When the old king, All Might, had died suddenly without an heir, it had left a vacancy that ambitious nobles quickly rose to contest over. During the ensuing five year war, the first and second successors to the throne were deposed.
It was during this time her cousin, Shigaraki Tomura, claimed the crown.
But his position as monarch remains uncertain. The old nobles don't truly accept him as king. He wasn't in line for the throne. And with rumors that the third successor is still alive and working with All Might's illegitimate son as insurgents, the nobility are divided in their support.
That is why she is here. Due to a complicated and convoluted succession process, she is fourth in line to the crown. If her cousin marries her, the lords that keep to the old ways will fall in line.
She is the link Shigaraki needs to hold the throne.
Momo presses up against the bare stone wall at the juncture of the hallway. The stones chill her through her long nightgown, but she ignores the cold as she holds her breath. Her heart pounds in her chest as she listens for the heavy footfalls of the palace guards.
She may be the link Shigaraki needs to win but her life is still that of a pawn. A piece on her cousin's chessboard, only slightly more valuable alive than dead. And alive has varying definitions. If her cousin catches her sneaking around, he may not take the kinder definition.
In the distance an owl hoots.
Momo waits, listening for a moment longer. The corridor is silent, there are no other sounds besides her heartbeat. She breathes a sigh of relief, relaxing, then hurries around the corner to stop before two large mahogany doors.
The hallway is too dark to make out the ornate trim that details the tales of heroes and kings of old but Momo remembers the curves and cuts of each story etched into the wood. She cracks one of the doors open just wide enough to slip through.
Inside the library is impressive, larger than anything she has ever seen. Aisles and shelves of books with a large spiral staircase lead to a second story with paths running along with more shelves. A railing of ornate spindle work and gingerbread detailing encloses the balcony.
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